Tuesday, Nov 10th 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT More information & registration: https://www.prebioticchem.org/seminar-series-signup Lucas Patty, Senior Researcher, University of Bern Lucas Patty is a senior researcher at the University of […]
biosignature
Posted inAstrochemistry
Astrochemistry: Dwarf Galaxies Retain Only A Small Fraction Of The Oxygen Made By Their Stars
[NASA/STSCI] NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope just revealed a mystery in our cosmic neighborhood. In a paper published Monday in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers using Hubble studied 37 nearby dwarf galaxies […]
Posted inMars
Advancing Methane Detection Technology For Future Mars Missions
[Canadian Space Agency]. The presence of methane on Mars could provide important clues about the red planet’s past and present, including whether it may once have supported life. By studying […]
Posted inMars
A Technical Reanalysis Of The Viking Carbon Assimilation-Pyrolytic Release Experiment
[astro-ph.IM]. Viking Lander: The 1976 Viking Carbon Assimilation-Pyrolytic Release (CAPyR) experiment tested whether carbon from 14CO2 and 14CO entered Martian soil during a 120-hour incubation in a form retained during […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
The Unresolved Paradox of Viable Microorganisms in Ancient Halite
[LIFE] Reports of viable microorganisms from ancient halite create an unusual test of the biological limits of cellular survival.
Posted inAstrobiology (general)
The Evolution Of Oxygen, Temperature, And Marine Aerobic Habitat For Animals Over The Last Billion Years Of Earth History
[Current Biology (Cell)] Atmospheric and ocean oxygen levels and temperature have changed considerably over Earth history, and many of these changes coincided with similarly dramatic changes in marine life.
Posted inMars
Microbial Methanogenesis on Mars: A Life Detection Target For An MLE-Type Mission And Future Human Exploration
[astro-ph.IM] Methane (CH4) is one of the most enigmatic and potentially consequential trace gases detected on Mars, having demonstrated apparent seasonality, localized plumes, or, depending on who you ask, never […]
Posted inBrown Dwarfs
First Detection Of Variable Water Clouds Outside Of Our Solar System
[University Of Arizona]. A Jupiter-sized world just 7.5 light-years away is cloudy, chemically complex, and, it turns out, more like home than anyone expected.
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology
Activity And Diversity Of Sulfate- and Methane-based Pathways Of Anaerobic Chitin And N-acetylglucosamine Degradation In Marine Sediments
[American Society of Microbiology] Sulfate reduction is estimated to account for half of the organic carbon respiration in anoxic, organic-rich ocean sediments. Sulfate-reducing microorganisms (SRMs) typically oxidize simple carbon compounds, […]
Posted inImaging & Spectroscopy
A Missing Continental Impact Melt Sheet Signal In The Early Earth Detrital Zircon Record
[Nature Communications] Impact-derived melting has been proposed as a significant process in the formation of Earth’s early crust which could mean that impact melts are a source for Earth’s oldest […]